There's a version 4.3 preview on the World of Warcraft Website with a look at the transmogrification feature in the next major version of Blizzard's MMORPG. They explain that: "In patch 4.3 you’ll be able to customize the appearance of your weapons and armor like never before." Here's how:

The Ethereals, emerging from the nether, will bring with them a new technology they call Transmogrification. They’re heading to the capital cities of Azeroth to set up shop and to offer adventurers a unique service -- copying the appearance of one magical item onto another. They only ask for a modest gold donation to recoup their costs.

Visiting a Transmogrifier will present players with a new interface that will allow them to change the appearance of an item while retaining its original stats. This means that you can raid in your paladin tier 12 Immolation set, but look like you’re wearing Lightbringer, while priests can bring Benediction back -- at least in spirit. Hunters can once again roam the jungles of Stranglethorn Vale in their tier 2 Dragonstalker set. You could even slip into the saucy tailored Black Mageweave set for that matter. You know, with the thigh highs, and the little gloves, and the cute little… ahem.

Cutter wrote on Aug 17, 2011, 23:04:Yeah, every other game on earth has had this for years now, they're called wardrobe tabs.

Yup, and in true WoW fashion they made it into yet another gold sink instead of just making it the feature everyone asked for.

I haven't played WoW since shortly after Cata came out (it killed it for me, just wasn't fun... and they expected me to daily farm those awful insanely long heroics? ick) after playing since launch. Things could have changed (like I said, haven't played in a long while), but when I was active the game desperately needed more gold sinks. The economy was suffering crazy inflation.

shihonage wrote on Aug 18, 2011, 01:06:WoW stopped being fun past DarkShire. At least the WoW I so desperately wanted to play. The beginning was perfect. Atmospheric locations, close by quest hubs...

Then it all went to shit. Well, after Darkshire I had a brief respite at Arathi Highlands. And then it all went to shit.

Now I am stuck in some inn, and there's never anyone else around. Gone are the days of lively Goldshire. The locations are too spread out. It's a single-player game now. With stupid instances tacked on.

Fuck that.

WoW stopped being fun when it became a formula and spreadsheet instead of a game. The early quests were pretty roughly designed but had some interesting writing for those that didn't just blindly click through it. There were some great quest arcs that spanned entire zones even. I remember doing the Priest and Hunter class quests, it was a pretty big undertaking and the whole guild got involved to some extent.

There's definitely something to that old saying about the journey and the destination. Item levels and boss mechanics aren't why I was playing a fantasy MMO, it was the lore and universe. Sadly I'm probably a minority judging by the crowds of people who line to do their daily quests and run the same reskinned boss 50 times.

Hmm... the official blue post mentioned it doesn't work with Legendary gear, not epic. I tend to believe that more than "some gaming magazine", especially since the example shows purples... and they mention tier sets.

WoW stopped being fun past DarkShire. At least the WoW I so desperately wanted to play. The beginning was perfect. Atmospheric locations, close by quest hubs...

Then it all went to shit. Well, after Darkshire I had a brief respite at Arathi Highlands. And then it all went to shit.

Now I am stuck in some inn, and there's never anyone else around. Gone are the days of lively Goldshire. The locations are too spread out. It's a single-player game now. With stupid instances tacked on.